GRAPHIC VIDEO: The devastating crash footage police want drivers using their phone at the wheel to see

Paul Fisher

Police are urging drivers who continue to use their phones at the wheel to watch this devastating crash footage.

Warning: The video shows distressing video crash footage

The video shows 30-year-old Tomasz Kroker from Andover, Hampshire, smashing into a row of parked cars while scrolling through his phone on the motorway.

Tracy Houghton, 45, was killed in the crash along with her sons Ethan, 13, and Joshua, 11, and her partner’s daughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11. Kroker had been changing the music on his phone when he ploughed into the car with a court hearing back in October that he had barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

Police released the distressing footage after the crash in a bid to stop drivers using their phones at the wheel. They said they had worked with the family to produce the video clip to “highlight the potentially catastrophic consequences of using a mobile phone whilst driving.”

A campaign asking motorists “where do you keep yours?” is running alongside an enforcement campaign which started on Monday, July 10, targeting those committing mobile phone related driving offences.

JAILED: Tomasz Kroker.

Statistics show that across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire men aged 21-50 are most likely to use their phone at the wheel with those aged 31 to 40 committing the most offences.

Across the three areas men have been responsible for 768 mobile phone related offences so far this year with women responsible for 155.

Overall the number of mobile phone related driving offences has reduced over the past three years from 2,413 in 2014 to 1,009 in 2016 . The consequences of using a mobile phone at the wheel can be fatal and the penalty for using a mobile phone at the wheel increased in March with motorists flouting the law now set to receive six points on their licence and a fine of up to £200

Chief Inspector Andy Piper of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit said: “While it excellent news that motorists in the three counties are taking on board warnings about the dangers of using their mobile phone at the wheel we want to make sure everyone realises the dangers of being distracted while driving.

VICTIMS: Josh and Ethan Houghton.

“The best way drivers can ensure they are not distracted by their phones is to turn them on to silent or ‘do not disturb’ mode and to keep them out of sight.

“I look forward to hearing some of the innovative ways people have come up with to avoid being distracted by their phones while driving.”

In October 2016, Kroker was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment at Reading Crown Court for each count of death by dangerous driving and four years’ imprisonment for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. All of the sentences will run concurrently. He was also disqualified from driving for seven years.